A Humble Beginning: Signs From a Papacy's First Days

By

Gordon Fairclough and

Stacy Meichtry

March 29, 2013 7:22 p.m. ET

ROME—As Christians around the world celebrate Easter week, Catholics here are closely watching the words and gestures of Pope Francis for clues to the direction the newly chosen pontiff will lead his 2,000-year-old church.

At a juvenile detention center on the outskirts of the Italian capital, the leader of the Roman Catholic faithful knelt before 12 young inmates—including women and Muslims—before bathing and kissing their feet in a...